Shri Veerappa Moily Assumes Charge as New Petroleum Minister Working towards providing energy security to the People of the country is my priority : Moily

Shri Veerappa Moily Assumes Charge as New Petroleum Minister
Working towards providing energy security to the People of the country is my priority : Moily

Dr. (Shri) M. Veerappa Moily assumed office as new Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, here today. He was earlier Minister of Power and Corporate Affairs. Outlining his priorities on the occasion, Shri Moily said that he would work towards providing energy security to the people of India. Bridging the gap in per capita consumption of petroleum products between the global average and bringing it up to a decent level of around 6 barrels/person/year from the present level of 3 barrels is a huge task, he added.

Shri Moily also said that his priorities include intensifying the pace of domestic exploration & production of crude oil & natural gas through new policy initiatives. He emphasised that our oil companies, at the same time will be encouraged to aggressively acquire assets abroad in the interest of energy security.

Elaborating his priorities further, the Minister called for expediting development of oil & gas infrastructure and ensuring availability of sensitive petroleum products, namely Diesel, PDS Kerosene and Domestic LPG at reasonable prices. He also said that efforts will be expedited in channelizing subsidy to the targeted beneficiaries (Direct Cash Transfer). The Minister said that Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are incurring high under-recoveries an these sensitive products which present ly come Rs 433 core per day. At this rate, OMCs are expected incur an under-recovery of Rs 1, 63,000 crore this fiscal as compared to Rs 1, 38,500 last year (2011-12). Whereas, about Rs. 60,000 crores of under-recoveries during the current year are likely to be borne by the upstream companies (ONGC, OIL and GAIL), efforts will be made to persuade the Ministry of Finance to compensate the balance under-recoveries, he said.

Shri Moily also referred to encouraging use of natural gas and ensuring upgradation of gas infrastructure in terms of LNG terminals and pipelines. His priorities include Oil PSUs preparing concrete action plans to achieve planned investment of over Rs 4, 50,000 crore during XIIth Five Year Plan, conservation of petroleum products, extension of BS-IV petrol-diesel to major cities, enhancing service standards by OMCs to maximize consumer satisfaction, etc.


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RCJ/RKS
(Release ID :88686)